EXCLUSIVE: PJ Media Adds Parenting, Lifestyle Content

MARY CHASTAIN17 Nov 2015

On Wednesday, PJ Media will announce an expansion into parenting and lifestyle news along with a new design on their website. The Internet provides immediate answers or guidance for parents, but the many options can overwhelm and not all are for the right. This addition provides conservative parents with a one stop shop for all their needs.

“Over the past 10 years, PJ Media has grown from a band of bloggers to a trusted source for unique, engaging news and commentary. I’m proud of how far the company has come, and I look forward to seeing how far it goes – and continuing to contribute to the website,” stated co-founder and former CEO Roger L. Simon.

Supervising editor Paula Bolyard spoke exclusively with Breitbart News about the relaunch and plans for the new categories.

What are your major plans with the added space?

We’re really excited about the redesigned PJMedia.com, which provides a better platform for our content and really enhances the user’s experience. In fact, the user’s experience was our foremost thought as we redesigned the site. Visitors will see a clean design and organization that helps our content shine. They’ll also discover a site that is responsive to all devices, with a focus on making it easy to share our content on social media.

We’ve also added some components to our editorial focus. Since its inception in 2005, PJ Media has focused on covering news and politics and that’s not going to change. Our readers will continue to see the quality political reporting and analysis they’ve come to expect from us, and in fact, we’ve added a new section that focuses on Homeland Security and a dedicated section for News and Politics. But we’ve also expanded our reach into the areas of Parenting and Lifestyle.

Our Parenting section provides valuable resources for parents, by parents, and includes advice, inspiration, encouragement, real life stories from the parenting trenches, and much more.

Lifestyle presents the latest trends in books, movies, music, and pop culture, along with quick links to interesting content around the web.

What inspired you to expand into parenting and lifestyle?

As a company, we care about the future of our country and what we are leaving behind for our children and grandchildren. While we believe that politics is important, we also want to talk to our readers about the values that make America great — faith, self-reliance, hard work, emotional strength. We want to do our part to help parents navigate an uncertain world and a culture that is constantly sending mixed messages to children.

We also think culture is important. The goal of our Lifestyle section is to provide readers with engaging ideas and information that will enrich their lives. In addition, we’re adding a new Faith section, where contributors from various religions discuss the ways their faith impacts their daily lives; share inspirational stories; and dive into the fundamental of their beliefs.

What is the state of the modern family in America?

The American family is in a state of flux and with such rapid change underway, it’s difficult to predict what the institution will look like a decade from now. Divorce, fatherlessness, the breakdown of communities, a disregard for religion — all of these things have had detrimental effects on children, and unless we do something to turn the tide on these trends, our society and culture will continue to decline. As bad as that sounds, I see a lot of younger parents who have a deep desire to build strong families and marriages. I’m really encouraged by the thoughtful ways in which they approach parenting and the culture, and it gives me hope that the family can survive the cultural upheaval we’re experiencing. We have a wide variety of parent-contributors at PJMedia.com/parenting, some with a lot of experience under their parenting belts and others just starting out. One of my favorite things about this parenting page is that we can all jump into this community together and help each other along our (sometimes stressful) parenting journeys.

How has technology affected family in America?

For most families, technology is a part of nearly every waking moment of the day. Most parents (myself included) reach for their phones before they even talk to their spouses or kids in the morning. If our kids aren’t playing on their devices, they’re begging and negotiating for more screen time. Family dinner time (if that happens at all) has become a time for everyone to catch up on their Facebook or check their Fantasy Football team or for the kids to play games so the parents can have five minutes of peace and quiet.

I think it’s also changed something else for parents, Unlike earlier generations, who turned to neighbors and relatives for parenting advice, this generation’s parents are more likely to crowdsource — turning to other parents on the Internet, and listening to a variety of opinions before they make a decision. At PJMedia/parenting we have a weekly parenting roundtable where our contributors weigh in on issues that parents wrestle with. Even though we don’t always agree (and often we don’t!), I think it’s really healthy for parents to examine issues from a variety of perspectives.

What do you think is the greatest concern of the modern family?

I think that for many parents, there’s a sense that our kids are adrift. Parents everywhere, whether they’re in the inner city or living in an upscale suburban neighborhood, worry about their kids and the kind of world they’re growing up in. Somewhere along the way we lost the shared values that used to hold us together as a nation. It used to be that parents could count on others in the community to reinforce the things they were teaching at home. Schools, churches and synagogues, neighbors, relatives — all could be generally counted on to encourage positive values. Now, families are disconnected from their communities and places of worship and, in many cases, from their extended families. As a result, we see kids who are jaded and have lost their innocence and many who have been raised with no connection to religion. They are seeking meaning through sexualization, attention on social media, drugs, and a variety of other unhealthy pursuits. I hear from a lot of parents who are very concerned about this loss of connectedness with the community and they’re afraid of what this will mean for their kids.

Are there any specific topics you plan to address on a daily basis?

We will cover a wide variety of topics at PJMedia/parenting: breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding, prenatal advice, discipline, how to manage screen time, teaching kids about faith, education, etc. But we will also have some articles that are pure encouragement for stressed-out moms (and dads…we’re not leaving out the dads!) and some things just for laughs. We’ll also have plenty of real-life stories from the parenting trenches. Things that most parents will be able to relate to, like when your baby cries on a plane or the fact that your kitchen floor is filthy — always. Parenting is messy sometimes and it’s OK to admit that we’re not Pinterest-perfect every day.